The Outdoor 7v7 soccer season ended friday night November 7 on a tough Penalty Kick Loss to “Thats what she said” an exceptional team.  The game was a hardly fought battle all the way through.  The oppisition scored on a blasted ball off of a out of bounds free kick about halfway through the first half.  The llamas spirits stayed high all the way through the first half, ending that half with a 1-0 deficit. With the defense of Allie Greer and Matt “thrill” Gill leading the way as well as the help of Dave Claffey and others rotating back wonderfully to help out.

At Halftime Captain Andrea Nykiel went over some of what she saw in the first half and made the necessary adjustments.  As the second half began it was obvious that the adjustments had worked and the Llamas controlled the second half. Spending the majority of the time in the offensive zone. With around 10 mintues remaning, the llamas got a great cross from Captain Nykiel that was finished off by a hustling Dave Claffey.  That goal knotted the match at 1. Which it would stay at until the end of regulation.  Leaving only penalty kicks to decide the playoff match.

Rookie Goalie Mike Bizier who played his heart out during regulation was prepared to face great shooters fromt the oppisition.  The penalty kicks were set up as best out of three.  And after the first two shooters for both teams, none of them had reached the back of the net. Both Saam Batmanghelidj and Nick Sotak rocketed great shots that were just blocked by the keeper. The third shot by “thats what she said” did in fact find the goal and Captain Nykiel’s shot went just wide. Ending the match in a 1-1 tie with a 1-0 penalty kick loss for the Llamas. Thus ending a incredible comeback season.

This season was a great success for a llama team that struggled during the full field outdoor season.  With a bunch of new recruits and stellar talent.  The llamas soccer program is back on its feet and ready to mount a championship run.

Two of the best teams in the Boston West Coed Softball league will spend the week nervously checking the league’s website to see if they will be named to the eight-team playoff tournament to close out the Fall season.

Both Dizzy Llamas Softball teams, White and Green, had an outstanding Fall going a combined 14-4 through the regular season.  Unfortunately, last minute scheduling changes by the Boston West Coed Softball league saddled the club with two forfiet loses.  Now both teams are in danger of slipping out of the playoffs.

“More than half our games were blowouts,” said Mike Bizier, White’s stellar infielder.  “We’ve beaten up on everyone we’ve faced.  I’d be very dissapointed if we didn’t make the playoffs because of poor scheduling by the league.”

Despite the controversy, the Softball program has been a huge success this Fall.  After Gray winning the BWCS championship in the summer, the program was condensed into two teams and both have steamrolled through the league.

White’s infield of Kevin McKay, Mike Bizier, Mimi Drozd and Jerry Antone is one of the best in the league, while top-of-the-order hitters Tom Boates and Vincent Duong and given opposing outfielders fits with their aggresive baserunning.  Green has relied on power to fuel their offensive juggernaut.  Led by Scott Tarentino, Mark Sinnamon, Derek Price and Jen Kuzmick, they have bashed their way past opponents while the battery of Paul Costa and Carol Duffy have styfled many a bat.  More importantly, the improvement of Chris DeLuca and Cameron Stewart offensively has turned a slow part of the order into a run-scoring feast.

Fall brought two big challenges for the program.  The colder weather saw pulled muscles and injuries accumulate while the Football program stole players on a weekly basis.  Multi-sport and multi-team athletes played a huge role this season, with September Llama of the Month Danielle Sullivan leading the charge. She manned right field for both teams, and helped guide the clubs top football team to victory week after week.

It has been a trying season, but in true Llama fashion, our athletes stepped up and find themselves on the doorstep of another championship.

Summer is coming to a close, and many Dizzy Llama teams finished their seasons in championship fashion by winning 3 titles this past week.

Dodgeball White had a stellar year, lingering at the top of the standings all season and gaining the 3rd seed for the playoffs. White’s path to the finals went through DL Black and DL Blue, who were a combined 23 wins better than last season. Down 2 games to 0 in a best-of-three championship, White battled back to force a 5th and final game. DL White’s Ashley Parker and Erin Calamari found themselves in a 2-on-2 battle for the title, and after a 10 minute standoff, it was Parker who took out the last opponent for the Llamas first BSSC Dodgeball Championship.

Sunday morning began early, with 4 DL teams facing off in the EMAAC Ultimate Frisbee playoff tournament. The top-seeded Blouses, led by Captain Adam Howe, and the underdog Ghettostars, with their two big men Pat and Nick Brown, cruised through a bracket of short-handed teams into the finals. After an 8-6 win by the Ghettostars to give both teams 1 loss, the Blouses showed why they were the #1 rank and won 7-3. Rookie Llama James Carney and multi-sport veteran Allie Greer also contributed to the inaugural EMAAC Ultimate championship.

Sunday was also a long afternoon for the DL Gray softball team, who had to play their Boston West semi-finals at noon, then if necessary the championship game at 6PM. The Llamas cruised through their afternoon games thanks to the big bats and solid gloves of outfielders Shane Knowles and Scott Tarentino. In the Championship game, the middle-infield combination of SS Michael Comtois and 2B Jen Kuzmick turned two double-plays and kept The Pirates off the base paths for most of the night. Comtois also dominated at the plate, hitting 2 home runs on the day. Tied up in extra innings in the final game, Mike Bizier found himself at third base, and with no outs Kuzmick nailed a line drive at the shortstop that was bobbled, scoring Bizier for the dramatic walk-off victory and a BWCS Championship.

The 4th seeded Llama Volleyball team will be fighting for a 3rd straight championship this Thursday, while the DL Green/White Softball teams will send their best and brightest to the EMAAC All-Star Game on Sunday.

Congratulations to everyone who earned themselves a championship this past week, and good luck in the Fall season.

The news has been released that all teams in this current season of dodgeball will make the playoffs set to take place on June 17th. Now all that is left to figure out is where will all the DL teams stand when the seedings are official. Currently, DL Green is sitting comfortably in the top five of the league, currently occupying the number 2 seed (out of 18) with two weeks to go in the regular season. DL White sits in the top half of the pack occupying the number 7 seed, while DL Black and Blue sit tied for the 14th seed overall. With only two weeks left of play before the playoffs, all four Dizzy Llamas teams will get their BYE week on June 3rd and resume play during the final week on June 10th. With just 10 games to bring up their records, all four teams are anticipating a big final week. DL Green (43-17) continued its uphill road to the #1 seed by going a solid 8-2 this past week. Led by the cannon arm of Shane Knowles and the velcro-like hands of Adam Howe, Green forced themselves into 2nd place overall in the BSSC standings. The biggest accomplishment of the week was going 1-1 against the 1st place Guerrilla Bombers, who have dominated the entire league… except DL Green. The Bombers have just 6 losses on the season, 4 of which have come at the hands (or balls) of DL Green. With just 1 night of games remaining for the defending Silver Bracket champions, Green should ride their current hot streak right into the playoffs. This past week DL White (33-27) was marred with absences, leaving only Dave Claffey and captain Thomas Boates as the only two official roster members to compete. Replacing official White players were Shane Knowles, Vicky Catalan, Danielle Sullivan from DL Green and Tommy Safranek from DL Blue, who was actually forced to play against his own team for two games. With the team being so thrown together, it was hard to have any consistency or solidarity, but White still managed to salvage a 5-5 record out of the night. Vicky Catalan, who also filled in later that night for the shorthanded DL Black team, gets the week’s DL White MVP as she made some great dodges and managed to be one of the last few people out just about every game. DL Blue (24-36) struggled with their play this past week. Though they finished with a 4-6 record, they looked as though they did not have the same energy as in the previous two weeks. With players like captain Mike Bizier and Jared Calise, it is very surprising the see this team play with such a lack of energy and slow paced style. Even with the less than perfect record this week, DL Blue was able to bring themselves up in the standings, jumping from 17th to 14th. After a strong 2-0 start, DL Back (24-36) fell apart last week. Blame it on bad luck or just poor performances, but DL black went on to lose the next 8 games, finishing with a 2-8 record for the night. Captain Brad Bodell attributed the bad performance to his players not yet having a cohesive way of playing as a team. Perhaps it’s the rookie status of all but two of their players. Over time this should change. The week off should allow the team to regroup and come back for a strong performance in the final week of play. Following this session of dodgeball, all four teams will be starting the next session, starting June 24th, with clean slates. DL Dodgeball is also accepting sign ups for new players to join up for the next session of dodgeball. If enough new players sign up, DL Dodgeball will be able to expand with a 5th team. Current Llamas can sign up on the message board. Current non-members can fill out the “Become a Llama” form on the DL website to join in on the fun.

After their first season the Dizzy Llamas volleyball team walked away with the championship, and they have yet to look back. In their second season, DL Volleyball currently sits at a record of 44-12, comfortably in first place in their division. Being led by captain Adam Howe and power hitters Dave Macmahon and Dan Wilkens, DL Volleyball has solidified themselves as the top team in league.

Every week seems to bring forward a new all star on the team. During Week 5 play, while missing setter Casey Robertson and captain Adam Howe, Thomas Boates stepped up to give what many have said to be the best volleyball performance ever by a single Llama. In Week 6, the Llamas were once again shorthanded, competing with just five players on the court and no female subs, forcing the team to start every game down 0-3. Vicky Catalan and captain Adam Howe stepped up and each racked up an average of five aces per match and led the team to a 7-1 record on the day. The team was short handed female players in Week 7 as well, but decided to activate all present male players and take a five point hit at the start of each game. Even with the poor performance by captain Adam Howe, hitters Dave Macmahon and Dan Wilkens, being set by Caitlyn Cassara and Dave Claffey, carried the the team to another 7-1 record on the day.

DL Volleyball has two more weeks of regular season play and will compete in their divisional playoff on June 3rd. On June 4th and June 9th DL Volleyball will be expanding into two new teams, competing at a higher level and in a new venue: outdoors on grass.

After four weeks into the current season, the standings are starting to take shape and all four Llamas teams are gaining momentum. With half of the players being rookies it was bound to take a little while for the teams to get a firm grasp on their own style of play, but with half of the season behind us each team has shown that they have what it takes to move forward.

In the first four weeks DL Green has rocketed to an early lead, not only among the four Llamas teams, but among the entire field. With strong play from second session players Patrick and Nora Brown to compliment veterans Adam Howe, Keith Kantor, and Shane Knowles, DL Green was able to go 10-0 for first time in team history in Week 3, beating the current, and annual, number 1 seed in the league twice in one night.

DL White has been solid and consistent all season. With their veteran captain Thomas Boates instilling knowledge and advice to all his players, they play a very patient game waiting for their opponents to make mistakes. It frustrates many opposing players, forcing them to make ill advised decisions. Adding newcomer Chris Ruggiero, DL White finished 4-6, lead by Scott Tarentino and Dave Claffey who made some important catches throughout the night to keep the team afloat. They currently sit in 2nd place among DL Dodgeball teams and tied for 9th overall.

DL Black has come a long way from the start of the season. Led by veteran Brad Bodell, DL Black started off the season slow. In the first two weeks of play they went a combined 5-15. In the past two weeks however, they have brought up the winning percentage by going a combined 13-7, bringing them just one game back from DL White in the overall standings. Second session player Brett Morrison was Black’s player of the week, bringing the team back from a one on three match up during play in Week 4. Black started Week 4 at 2-4, but thanks to Brett’s accurate and powerful throwing, they won their final 4 games and finished 6-4 on the week, the best record among all DL Dodgeball teams in Week 4.

DL Blue, led by second session players Mike Bizier (who was also named the Llama of the Month for the month of April), Andrea Nykiel, Jared Calise, and Abigail Ortiz-Miller, have struggled early this season. They have shown signs of improvement however, as they have never posted a worse record than their previous week. DL Blue is full of talent and should be able to make a late season run for a much higher seed in the silver playoff bracket in the next four weeks of play. They finished Week 4 with the team’s best record of the season: 4-6.